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Mayor of Osaka and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party

By Jeong Nam-ku, Tokyo correspondent

Toru Hashimoto, Mayor of Osaka and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, had already said recently that the so-called “comfort women”, women forced into sexual slavery in the Japanese military in World War II, were necessary. Now, he has admitted to telling the commander of the US Futenma air base in Okinawa in early May to consider having soldiers there make use of prostitution establishments to help them satisfy their sexual urges. The comments are causing uproar in Japan. The Japanese government strongly criticized the mayor’s remarks and promised to offer its official view as it tries to cool down the situation.

“Even if it were not the comfort women system, I believe that houses of prostitution would have been necessary,” Hashimoto told reporters in Osaka on the evening of May 13. “When I visited the US air force base at Futenma at the beginning of this month, I told the commander there that there are places in Japan where it is legal to satisfy sexual urges, and that I hoped the soldiers would make use of them.” On the morning of May 13, Hashimoto asserted that everyone knows that the comfort women system was necessary.

The members of the cabinet led by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped forward to offer their unanimous condemnation of the remarks.

In a press conference held after the cabinet meeting on May 14, Hakubun Shimomura, Minister of Education, said, “It is impossible to view these remarks as having been made by someone who represents a political party.”

In regard to Hashimoto’s suggestion that US forces in Japan take advantage of brothels, Shimomura said, “It’s not like Hashimoto is some no-name blowing off steam with his friends. I think he needs to show an awareness of what his position is.”

Nevertheless, as of May 14, Hashimoto had refused to take back his remarks. Hashimoto made a post on his Twitter account responding to the fact that the commander of the US air force station at Futenma had rejected his proposal and asked him not to say anything more on the topic. “The US has consistently rejected the idea of state-sponsored prostitution, but there is nothing to stop soldiers from using brothels that are legally recognized by the government of Japan,” he wrote.

Previously, Hashimoto told reporters in Osaka on that comfort women had served a useful purpose, according to a May 13 report by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper. “When soldiers are risking their lives by running through storms of bullets, and you want to give these emotionally charged soldiers a rest somewhere, it’s clear that you need a comfort women system,” he said. He added that Japan was not the only country whose military used ‘comfort women.’

Hashimoto said it is a result of the tragedy of the war that they became comfort women against their will. “The responsibility for the war also lies with Japan,” he said. “We have to politely offer kind words to former comfort women.” Hashimoto was criticized by countries including Korea last August after claiming that there is no proof that the Japanese authorities had forced comfort women into servitude. “If there is any evidence, Korea should show it,” he said.

As for the statement released in 1995 by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, which expressed remorse and apology to Asian countries for Japan’s imperial acts of aggression, Hashimoto said he supported it. “Japan is a defeated country,” he said. “As a result of the defeat in the war, we must accept that what Japan did was aggression. There is no doubt that Japan caused tremendous suffering and damage to neighboring countries. Japan must reflect on it and make an apology.” But at the same time, Hashimoto also concurred somewhat with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent controversial assertion that the definition of aggression is vague and is subject to interpretation.

Shintaro Ishihara, who along with Hashimoto is co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, offered the embattled politician his support. “The military and prostitution are one and the same,” Ishihara told reporters at the Japanese diet. “It’s more or less a historical fact.”

With 54 seats in the House of Representatives, the Japan Restoration Association is one of the three major political parties in Japan, along with Liberal Democratic Party (which has 295 seats) and the Democratic Party (57 seats).

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